Aerator for bath or washing equipment



Aug. 19, 1958 w. s. MrslURA AERATOR FOR BATH 0R WASHING EQUIPMENT Filed April 12, 1955 Urall mfr m from/ay United States Patent O AERATOR FOR BATH R WASHING EQUIPMENT Wiktor S. Misiura, Trenton, N. J.

Application April 12, 1955, Serial No. 500,762

1 Claim. (Cl. 261-124) This invention relates to bath or washing equipment and more particularly to equipment for discharging air under pressure through water or'other cleansing liquid in a bath tub or other receptacle to create an agitation in the liquid about a human or other body supported in the receptacle.

The present invention is an improvement of the equipment disclosed in copending application Serial No. 483,503, tiled January 24, 1955, now abandoned, and is restricted primarily to the support for a body in Va receptacle and the means associated therewith for discharging compressed air through liquid in the receptacle.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is `to provide a foldable support -for a body in a bath tub or other receptacle, which support can be rolled up for convenient storage, and which support is provided with yan interior space and intercommunicating channels therein :connected to a suitable source of air pressure and also with perforations leading from said channels for discharge of air through liquid in the receptacle.

Another object of this invention is to Provide a foldable ysupport of the character mentioned having a drain opening at its rear end normally closed by suitable means so that the air inlet connectioncan be coupled to a sou-rce of water pressure and the interior space in the support hushed out to keep the support in a clean and sanitary condition.

-Further objects and advantages of my improved support will be apparent from the following specication taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a conventional bath tub showing one form of my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the bottom portion of t-he body support with the top `wall portion removed;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section taken on the line 44 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4a is a similar section showing a modified form of construction;

EFig. 5 is a detail section taken through the air inlet connection;

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken through the outlet connection for ilushing the interior space of the support;

Fig. 7 is a detail plan view of a modification of the support.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals designate like parts or elements in the several views, 10 is a conventional bat-h tub provided with the usual overow outlet 12 and drain outlet 14 controlled by a valve 16 operated by a handle 18, which projects into the tub, through a crank and linkage connections 22 and 24.

In the bottom portion of the tub 10 is a rectangular foldable support designated generally by the numeral 26 but being formed by a bottom portion 28, which may be formed of rubber fabric or any other suitable ilexible material and a `top Wall portion 30 which may also be made of any suitable foldable material.

ralfice The bottom portion is provided with upwardly opening longitudinal channels 32 and transverse channels 34 communicating at the front end of the support wit-h an intermediately located compressed air chamber 36.` The top portion 30 is sealed over the bottom portion 28. This may be an imperforate foldable sheet provided with perforations 40 in alignment with the channels 34 or -it may be a woven fabric 38 sealed over the partition portions 43, with cement, or the like, as shown in Fig. 7, leaving the meshes 39 over the channels open, so that compressed air in said 'channels 4will be discharged upwardly from these channels.

A hose coupling 42 is connected to the top cover portion 30 of the support at its front end in communication with the chamber 36. A fhose 44 is `connected `at one end to the coupling 42 and at its other end by means of a coupling 45 to a source of air pressure, such, for example, as a reversible vacuum cleaner 45, or to any suitable lfluid Apressure pump, `which may be built into the walls adjacent the tub. When compressed air, or other iluid under pressure, is ilowing into the channels 32 and 34 it will be discharged upwardly through the perforations 40 into the liquid 4S in the container 10. As already mentioned, the discharge of air or other fluid pressure through water or other cleansing liquid will create an agitation of the liquid, this being `similar to that of a lboiling eifect. This will not only cause a washing action of a body in the liquid, but will also quickly cause soap or other detergent to go into solution, thus constantly washing the body in soapy water. An auxiliary hose with spray head for discharging fluid pressure into the lfluid in the receptacle may, if desired, be installed in the top portion 30.

At the rear end of the support 26 a flexible drain nipple 50 is connected into the internal channel 34, and =may be closed by a cap 52, or other suitable means. When the cap is removed the air coupling 45 can be connected to a source of water supply and the channels 32 and 34 `ilushed out for cleansing.

Por the purpose of rmly, but lremovably, attaching the support 26 to the bottom of the tub 10 it lmay be provided with a plurality of suction cups 54, of conventional design for contact wit-h the bottom of the tub.

The partition portions 43 may be formed integrally `with the bottom portion 28, .with the channels 32 molded therein, as illustrated in Fig. 4, or the partition portions 43 may be in the form of separate strips 56 cemented to the bottom portion 28', as indicated in Fig. 4a. In either construction the relatively Wide, flat portions 43 or 56 provide a comfortable support for a human body. It will be obvious that in the modified construction illustrated in Fig. 4a one of the strips 56 will necessarily be in the form of a continuous rectangular and foldable ring forming the border portion of the support 26 in the same general manner as t-he corresponding ring 4portion shown in Fig. 3; and that after all the foldable longitudinal strips have been cemented or otherwise sealed to the bottom portion 28 a perforated foldable sheet 40, which may be a 'woven fabric having open meshes or a sheet provided with rows of perforations, will be sealed to the lstrips 56 in the same general manner as indicated in connection with the form of my invention shown in Figs.

1 and 4.

Obviously, various changes in the details of construction of my improved support may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments of the invention Shown and described are intended to be illustrative, only, and not restricted to such specific construction.

I claim: I

A flat rectangular body support formed to t Within a bath tub, said `support being constructed entirely of foldable sheet material comprising a bottom sheet of thin material, a .flat strip of thicker material in the form of a rectangular ring cemented to the inner edge portion of said bottom sheet, a plurality of strips of substantially the same width and thickness as the Width and thickness of Said ring cemented to Said bottom sheet inside said ring and in longitudinal relation thereto, said strips being transversely spaced from one another and longitudinally spaced `from the respective ends of the ring thereby forming a plurality of relatively narrow longitudinal channels and like intersecting transverse channels at the ends of the ring, said channels being provided with `a source of uid pressure; and a sheet of open mesh fabric cemented to the tops of said ring and other strips over said channels, said meshes providing apertures for the discharge therethrough of uid pressure from all of said channels.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Engelmann et al I une 22, Weber Dec. 30, Allen et al. July 28, Millmather Ian. 15, Ballman Oct. 21, Rodert Feb. 6, Sandor June 24, Schwartz Dec. 22,

FOREIGN PATENTS Norway Dec. 27, Switzerland Jan. 2, Great Britain Dec. 18, 

